Re: cRAP, Jewish or Otherwise - My Many Opinions!

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

I have a tough time connecting with rap myself, as I said, but I do 
see/hear an element of craft in it, and good old rock and roll endured 
and continues to endure much the same derision to this day as it 
transcends its first half-century.  Perhaps the most important thing is 
to do/not do as Dylan, another once-derided artist admonished and "don't 
criticize what you can't understand."  I'm perfectly willing to respect 
the validity of things that are valid for others and recognize that my 
inability to appreciate MIGHT BE a lack of some kind of erudition on my 
part.

Shirona wrote:

>  Some questions can never be answered..."Yes, but is it ART"?
>
>  As a frustrated art student in the 70's, where it seemed like all rules,
>standards of visual criteria or any sense of a movement were
>abandoned...where in the wake of that abandonment was the vacuum into which
>all forms of BS were sucked in...unchallenged - I got tired of asking that
>question.  Art was reduced to "claim".  If you put it in a museum and
>declared "this is ART" - then it was! (Of course you needed lots of confused
>suckers to back your claim).
>
>  Perhaps every art-form needs to go through a phase like that...like a
>natural disaster that causes death... and re-birth (hopefully),  and only
>time will tell.  If the so-called ART can survive successive generations who
>will "buy into" whatever it is and find value in it - aesthetic, musical,
>visual, intellectual...write books about it, lecture about it, have shows
>and concerts (and people will come and love it) - then you probably have
>ART.
>
>  It's hard for me to imagine that rap would earn such status in the
>future...but then I still can't believe it got so big and popular in the
>present, so what do I know?  Are we plunging into a massive cultural
>dark-age period?  Maybe.  We know what composers accomplished 50, 100, 200,
>300 etc years ago...what do we have to show in the present?  If rap
>generates more "business" than any other form of music ( revenue, CD sales,
>concert attendance) - does this mean that "this is it" for our generation,
>and this is how we will be judged in the future? (Imagine a little bust
>portrait on a piano with Puff Daddy alongside Mozart and Beethoven...or a
>gallery in a museum dedicated to the "style" of rap artists...their
>clothing, cultural milieu...their contribution to world culture and
>enlightenment...  I dunno - it's too depressing to think about it.  I'm
>going to listen to my classical music, or Klezmer or good old fashioned Rock
>'n roll and make believe everything is cool...;-)
>
>  Shirona
>  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>  Singer, Songwriter and Teacher of Jewish Music
>     www.shirona.com
>     www.cdbaby.com/shirona
>  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: "Farfl's House" <farfl (at) idirect(dot)ca>
>  To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>  Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 8:23 AM
>  Subject: Re: cRAP, Jewish or Otherwise - My Many Opinions!
>
>
>  > In my sometimes-not-so-humble opinion, "rap Artist" and "rap Music" are
>  > oxymorons.  I prefer to side with the late bassist John Entwhistle who
>  > was of the opinion that rap was for those that couldn't sing.  I'm also
>  > of the opinion
>  > that drum machines are for demo tapes and should be used as a practicing
>  > tool only.  They have no place in recorded music being released to the
>  > public.
>  > Anyone can learn to program a drum machine and a sequencer with a
>  > minimum of instruction.  Anyone can buy Adidas gear and learn all of the
>  > correct and approved  hand gestures from  their local 24-hour video
>  > channel.   This stagnant cliche "form of expression" devolved out of a
>  > rather interesting past time that took place in basements in
>  > economically-depressed areas.  Kids were using turntables to play short
>  > *snippets* of records to form sound loops.
>  > Malcolm MacLaren had a hand in exposing it to the public,  hoping to
>  > make a profit from it.  Unfortunately, he paved the way for such things
>  > as "Puffed Wheat Daddy" or whatever his name is speaking about Godzilla
>  > over Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".
>  > -Steven
>  >
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>

-- 
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music and Jewish Studies
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)


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